As the Day Ends
by SilkWrappedMoth
Summary: Lily Evans Potter receives an unexpected visitor as she waits for James to return home.
Lily Evans Potter gazed through the light, shimmering haze of late spring at the garden from her place under the shady eaves of her yellow house. A very faint, cool breeze played softly around her face, and loose tendrils of red hair swirled slightly, glimmering as they were caught in a stray shaft of sunlight, before falling back to linger by her neck. The cherry trees planted all along the street were in full blossom and overflowed with a thousand shades of white and pink, and a few flowers floated away every now and then to eventually drift gently to the ground, where they carpeted the fragrant grass.

A few swallows glided on the warm currents, trilling merrily and swooping under each other as they performed a series of graceful twirls and pirouettes through the air. Lily watched them idly. Her hand trailed absently over the rainbow of flower petals spilling from their boxes on the porch, and she rocked leisurely back and forth on the porch swing, feet just touching the honey colored wood of the floor beneath. As the sound of the town clock tolling five in the afternoon reached her ears from across town, echoing faintly over the buzzing murmur of the bees, she sighed and stretched, reaching her arms out as far as they could go, and then yawned and stood up. Her husband would be back from work in less than an hour, and she wanted to visit old Bathilda next door before he arrived.

She had only gone a few steps into the sun, smiling as the warmth touched her skin, when a small brown tabby lifted its head from where it was curled up in a flower bed and then bounded over to greet her. It rubbed against her legs, arching its back, and purred loudly, and Lily's smile widened. She scooped the little creature into her arms and held it close to her chest, stroking the sides of its face, and then, laughing, took it with her as she continued down the pebbled path to the gate.

Just before she reached it, however, a shadow appeared suddenly out of midair a few yards away in the middle of the street, and she stopped, startled. The hooded, black-cloaked figure hurried to the sidewalk and pressed a long, narrow piece of wood to her iron gate, and rapidly murmured something under its breath, but nothing happened. Lily stayed frozen, the cat in her arms staring up at her, puzzled. The person didn't seem to have realized that she was there, and quickly muttered half a dozen other spells before looking up in exasperation, raising the wand in preparation to attempt to simply blast the gate away. He- the figure seemed male through the cloak, and was very tall- stopped dead as he saw her, and then, recovering from his surprise, pressed closer to the gate.

"Lily!" hissed a voice she knew very well. "Open the gate!"

She felt tears spring to her eyes as the voice called up hundreds of childhood memories, and then hastily put down the now-squirming cat, which promptly ran away and disappeared around the house. She approached the gate slowly, hesitantly, and the figure stood very still as it waited impatiently. When she was two or three feet away, however, she stopped and pushed her hair behind her ear uncertainly.

"Lily!"

She didn't move, biting her lip as she fought an inner turmoil. "No," she said finally, though she couldn't help the slight tremor in her voice. "I won't open it, Severus."

There was a faint sound of disbelief, and the cloaked person, Severus, looked up and down the street before turning his gaze back to her. "Lily!" he said a third time in a harsh whisper. "I've come to warn you; let me in!"

When she ignored the command, he exhaled loudly in frustration and finally tossed his wand over the gate. "There, you see? I'm unarmed. I mean you no harm."

She hesitated for a brief second more, then picked up his wand and withdrew her own from a pocket. Only after checking with several different, nonverbal spells that he was, indeed, unarmed (he stiffened as she pointed the wand directly at him, but didn't attempt to defend himself) did she move forward, heart in mouth. Her hand trembled as she silently undid the charms protecting her property, and he walked in without comment, his face shadowed and invisible despite the sun. When they both felt the weight of the charms settle back over the air, protecting the two of them now, but not from each other, he breathed a sigh of relief and reached up to push his hood back. The sun glinted off the lank, slightly greasy hair, and made his sallow skin seem even whiter than usual, but he didn't seem to notice, or care. He was looking at Lily with a strange, intense look in his eyes. She avoided his gaze and stared around at the garden, no longer noticing its relaxed beauty. Her body was very tense, and she jumped when he took a step closer.

"Why are you here?" she whispered, and missed the sudden look of pain that crossed his features. By the time she turned violently around to stare him in the face, her vivid green eyes blazing, his face was a carefully controlled mask that did not betray his emotions. "Why are you here?" she almost screamed.

He opened his mouth, and then closed it, and then opened it again, his eyes darting quickly to her stomach and then back up to her face. She didn't miss the quick glance. "I'm pregnant," she confirmed icily. "Now... why- have- you- come?" Each word was thrown out with something akin to hatred, but infinitely different.

There was a long silence, but just as she was opening her mouth again furiously, her hands on her hips, still clutching both wands, he spoke. His voice was very quiet. "I told you why," he said. "I had to warn you."

There was no pity in her gaze, and he couldn't sense the steadily opening wound of her heart. He kept his eyes on the ground, but they flashed up every few seconds seemingly of their own accord, as if he could not bear to stop looking at her. After another eternal pause in which no one spoke, her hard voice rang out over the still air. "Warn me, then, and leave."

Again the spasm of pain flickered over his face, and this time he reached out to her, pleading. "Lily-"

She stepped back ruthlessly. "You chose your way, Severus. I chose mine. Now speak!"

"The Dark Lord has learned of a prophecy," he babbled quickly, avoiding her gaze. "A prophecy concerning a child born at the end of July. It will be a male child, Lily, whose parents have thrice defied the Dark Lord- please, do you know... do you know if yours will be male?"

She nodded slowly, worry starting to creep into her eyes, and he closed his own and breathed in deeply. "It doesn't mean anything yet," he said, but he looked fearful, and she couldn't tell if he was trying to reassure himself or her. Despite herself, she took a tiny step closer to him, instinctively seeking comfort and security.

"We- James and I- have only fought him twice," she said uncertainly. Severus nodded eagerly.

"Yes. Yes, twice, that's right, only twice," he said. "So it can't be-" He broke off, and then continued in a calmer voice. "The rest of the prophecy says that the child will be marked by the Dark Lord as his equal, and will have power that he knows not."

"Power that he knows not?" repeated Lily, sounding appalled. "My... my son will have power that the Dark- that Voldemort doesn't know of? But surely Voldemort would try to kill him for that?" Her voice rose hysterically.

"It doesn't mean your son," said Severus hastily. "It could mean anyone else, not you nece- necessarily, and... When are you due, anyway?" he asked abruptly.

Her voice was bleak. "The first of August," she said. "I'm seven and a half months along. But it could be any day around then, you know, it's not exact..."

She trailed off, and there was silence once more. The sun had begun to set while they spoke, and tendrils of red now streaked across the sky like blood. She watched their progress as their color deepened and spread, and within a few minutes, the sky had been transformed into a raw, silently roaring inferno before her very eyes. It seemed somehow ominous.

Struck by a sudden thought, she turned back to the young man standing beside her and found him studying her carefully, his eyes never leaving her face. "What is it?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious. "Do I have something on my face?" She reached up automatically. He only smiled, though, shaking his head, and she returned to her question, nonplussed. "How do you know this?" she asked. "All of this, about the prophecy? And how does Voldemort know?"

His smile dissolved instantly and he closed his eyes to hide the sudden flare of anguish in them, but she had already seen the guilt. She and Severus had been best friends since they were nine, and she probably knew him better than any other person alive, and understood his gestures and emotions better than she did her own husbands'.

"You?" she whispered, and her face whitened with horror. "You? Severus- Sev, please, tell me you didn't- you didn't tell him, Voldemort, did you...? Sev?" Her eyes were wide and imploring. "Please?"

He didn't open his eyes, but the skin around them tightened, and his own face was whiter than hers. It had a deathlike, haunting chill about it in the fading light. "I'm sorry." The words were a faint whisper, barely audible, but a roaring began to sound in her ears, drowning out all thought. She stepped forward, enraged.

"You're sorry?!" she shrieked, and she sounded half mad. A bird took flight from a nearby tree. "You- you have the nerve to say that you're sorry?! You- you rat! You disgusting ball of slime! How dare you-" By now they were nose to nose. "How could you betray me like that? Betray the _wizarding world_...! You're a spy, you filthy spawn of swine! A spy for the most evil wizard to ever walk the Earth! And now you come here, and have the- you have the _gall_ to say you're _sorry_ -"

"Lily!" His distress was clear, but it only served to enrage her farther.

"Don't you dare call me 'Lily", you revolting _worm_ , Snape. Get out of my house!" She shoved him viciously, but he stood his ground. "GET _OUT!_ "

"No."

" _N-?!_ "

"No." He spoke urgently, rapidly, as if he feared that he wouldn't have time to finish what he had to say. "Lily, listen to me, Lily! I'm doing everything I can, but you have to hide, stay away from him-"

And then she was sobbing, and shaking him as hard as she could. Her entire frame trembled as she hit him, forgetting her wand entirely, but he ignored her feeble punches and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close to his body. After a few moments of weak resistance, she gave up and shook silently within the circle of his arms, wracking, convulsive gasps torn from her chest as tears poured down her cheeks. "I... hate... you…," she wept.

"I know." She didn't hear his almost silent answer, and was too blinded by her tears to notice the way his face contorted miserably. He blinked rapidly, but she didn't see, and he quickly mastered himself and rubbed her back soothingly.

"It's all right," he murmured. "He won't find you, no one will." Knowing what tormented her, he added, "You _and your son_ are safe here, as long as you take special precautions, Lily. Don't cry, please. I'll protect you, always, I promise. I promise."

It was full night by now, and the velvety darkness made the moment somehow more private. She looked up at him, but didn't say anything, letting him read her face as he had since they were children. His breath seemed to stop for a moment, but by the time she had realized it, he was breathing again, if a little bit too fast, and he leaned down to press his lips to her hair, hiding his face.

"I'm so sorry," he breathed, his voice blending with the night air, and she heard the truth and sincerity in his words. "I know it doesn't take back what I did, and I know that saying it doesn't make anything better, but I'm still sorry. I'm doing everything I can to stop him from finding out about your pregnancy, but there's a spy, Lily, from your side, and I don't know how much I can do. I don't even know who he is."

And then, gazing up at him through her tears, Lily Evans said the three words he had most longed to hear since that fateful afternoon on the grounds after OWLs: "I forgive you."

Later on, Lily couldn't remember quite what was said afterward, except that they had both cried, hidden in the darkness of night, and that she was glad that they had finally been reconciled after so many years. Their truce only lasted for the approximate space of an hour, and if they met later on the battlefield, she knew she would fight him with every last drop of strength in her body, but he was her best friend, and always would be, and she was glad that they knew each other.

"I love you, Lily," he whispered, and her heart bled. Why had he been born into such an awful family? She knew he was a good person, or at least capable of being one, but it seemed that every obstacle fate could possibly come up with was thrown in his path, and the entire world conspired to ruin his life. His parents, his school House, his House-mates... Even her very own sister had been as cruel to him as she possibly could. If only he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin, if he hadn't been bullied and picked on so ruthlessly by the Marauders- led by her own husband!- and later the entire school, following their example, if his savage father hadn't turned him against Muggles... Things would have been different. And the broken young man leaning against her, his eyes full of infinite tenderness as he gazed down at her, hadn't deserved his fate.

"I love you, too, Severus," she whispered, and leaned her head against his chest. "But it wasn't to be. It should have been- I wish more than anything that it had been- but it wasn't. And there is nothing at all that we can do about it."

They stood in silence, listening to the faint sounds of the night but not hearing them, until he said suddenly, his voice very low, "I'm scared, Lily. I don't- I don't want-" he shuddered, staring sightlessly into past memories of horror and fear. "He makes me- us- kill. He makes us do- awful things... and I don't know what to do... it's a lifetime of service or death."

"Shh," she murmured. "Don't speak of it. We can help you, Severus, if you'll let us. Go to Dumbledore."

He didn't answer, but she knew he was thinking seriously about it. "Perhaps I will," he said at last, and she knew that was all he would say, and smiled.

"I'm glad," she said. "You deserve better."

He smiled too, and then stepped back, his smile fading. "I will be missed if I stay much longer."

She sighed, not having to ask who would be missing him. "Are you sure no one followed you here?" He nodded. "Well, take care, Severus. I really hope you find a way out of this mess you've gotten yourself into."

His eyes were grave. "So do I."

She knew that was as close to admitting he was wrong that Severus would ever come, and took his left hand. She moved her fingers up until she reached mid-arm, below the elbow, and he flinched. "Does it hurt?" she asked.

He hesitated. "Sometimes. When he calls, mainly."

Not wanting to make him uncomfortable, she didn't attempt to raise his sleeve, but gently kissed his arm through the fabric where she knew the mark was etched blackly into the skin. "Have courage," she said, smiling, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. He nodded anyway. "We will make it through this alive," she insisted. "And it'll be better then. And-" she hesitated for the merest second. "If you ever need anything, Severus, or if you're hurt and need some place to go, or if you just want some friendly company, know that you can always come here."

"I'm sure Potter would like that," he mocked bitterly.

"I'll talk to James. He won't mind."

They shared one last, brief, intense glance, their eyes locking together fiercely as they silently said everything that couldn't be conveyed through words, and then Lily reached up and very lightly brushed her lips against his. "Goodbye, Severus."

She handed back his wand, and then silently turned and walked through the darkness back home. She didn't look back. And she didn't see him stare after her yearningly, before bringing a trembling hand to his lips.

It was the last time she ever saw him, and the last time Severus Snape ever felt loved. "Goodbye, Lily," he whispered into the darkness, but she didn't turn back.


End file.
